{"id":62020,"date":"2018-04-02T09:30:54","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T09:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=62020"},"modified":"2018-04-02T09:30:54","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T09:30:54","slug":"final-four-john-beilein-chases-first-title-will-second","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/final-four-john-beilein-chases-first-title-will-second.html","title":{"rendered":"Final Four: John Beilein chases his first title or will it be his second"},"content":{"rendered":"

Final Four: John Beilein chases his first title or will it be his second<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

John Beilein is old school.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defense and hard work are the foundation for his success. Cutting corners would never occur to him, let alone be something he actually would do.<\/span><\/p>\n

So the idea that he would lay claim to the 2013 national title that Louisville was forced to vacate, he\u2019s having none of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost the game, they won it,\u201d Beilein said Sunday. \u201cI\u2019m going to leave it like that, and that\u2019s the way it should be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe. But if Central Florida can call itself national champions after the lone unbeaten season in college football, then Beilein and Michigan can claim the 2013 title.<\/span><\/p>\n

Louisville was stripped of the national championship after the NCAA found a Cardinals assistant had paid an escort service thousands of dollars for sex parties with players and recruits. It\u2019s one of the seedier scandals college basketball has ever had, and the gaping hole in the list of national champions is a constant reminder of the game\u2019s moral failings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Awarding the title to Michigan would restore some dignity to the whole mess. (Michigan fans will contend Louisville never should have won, anyway, still infuriated with that phantom foul on Trey Burke late in the second half.)<\/span><\/p>\n

But Beilein insists he\u2019s not looking for a title to define or validate him, whether it\u2019s from that game or Monday night\u2019s championship against Villanova.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly say I wouldn\u2019t look at it any differently. I really would not,\u201d Beilein said, when asked how he\u2019d view his career if it included a national title. \u201cOthers may. But I don\u2019t think (wife) Kathleen and I would look at it any different.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou hang in there and you just do your absolute best every single day,\u201d Beilein said. \u201cYou just do everything you can to be the best coach, the best mentor, the best teacher, the best husband, grandfather, father, every day, and you go do it again. And that\u2019s all I want to be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Beilein\u2019s name might not have the same cachet as, say, Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Tom Izzo, John Calipari or even Jay Wright, his opponent in Monday night\u2019s game. But his r\u00e9sum\u00e9 is equal to anyone\u2019s in the game.<\/span><\/p>\n

He has a career record of 541-317 and has had only four losing seasons in 26 years, three of which came in his first seasons with a team. In 16 years at major programs, West Virginia and Michigan, Beilein has made the NCAA men\u2019s tournament 10 times.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monday night\u2019s title game is the second in six years for the Wolverines, the kind of frequency normally associated with the Dukes, Kentuckys and Carolinas of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody in our business really respects him,\u201d Wright said. \u201cYou know when you play a team, this guy does a really good job, they\u2019re hard to guard. And when we do something, they always adjust. He\u2019s respected as one of the best in that area.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing you have the respect of your peers is the highest compliment there is and, for Beilein, that is enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s also smart enough to know that basing your self-worth on a title is foolish because the best team and the national champions aren\u2019t always one and the same. How many times has a powerhouse team been derailed by a late injury? Or a last-second basket?<\/span><\/p>\n

The tournament, important as it is, is something of a crapshoot.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFunny bounces of the ball will determine the champion,\u201d Beilein said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why we love it. We just absolutely love it. And things could turn a game just like that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Beilein doesn\u2019t say all this because it sounds good or he knows he\u2019d come off as an arrogant fool if he said he craved a title. It\u2019s the same thing he\u2019s said to his staff for years, said Jon Sanderson, Michigan\u2019s longtime strength and conditioning coach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always about let\u2019s just win today,\u201d said Sanderson, the lone holdover on Beilein\u2019s staff from 2013. \u201cThat\u2019s just how he is. He\u2019s so focused on what\u2019s our job today \u2014 we have film, we\u2019ve got a walk through, we\u2019ve got a shootaround \u2014 he\u2019s not even thinking about tomorrow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And the what-if of 2013? It never even comes up, Sanderson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beilein is secure in his accomplishments and how he’s reached them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In this cut-throat and sometimes soulless business, that’s worth as much as any title or trophy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/columnist\/nancy-armour\/2018\/04\/01\/final-four-john-beilein-michigan-chases-his-first-title\/476961002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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